Weekly Word Association

All new photos from the last five days!



Angry Birds: A TouchPad app I'd never heard of until our friend Tom G. introduced it to Buby this week. Of course he was instantly obsessed! Makes me so glad we don't own an ipad. Yet.


Appointments: I squeezed in as many on Monday as I could. Dentist for me, blood lab for Ollie, and a fitting for Buby's new foot braces. Note to self: No more dental cleanings with a jumpy infant on my lap yelling, "Uh Oh!" The hygienist may or may not have been extremely annoyed.


Calendar: My oversized print calendar is filling up for Fall. Bleu will do gymnastics on Mondays at 12pm, Oliver will do music with me on Tuesdays at 10am, and Buby will do tennis on Thursdays at 4pm. Religious ed {which starts in 1st grade at our church} will be one Sunday a month. We may or may not commit to three simultaneous swim classes every Saturday morning. We always do swimming with the kids, but right now it feels like a lot. I'd like to ease into the school year, especially since Bleu is entering a morning program for the first time.


Clean: We started using a cleaning service again a few weeks ago, and the house feels SO MUCH BETTER. Right now we get a top-to-bottom cleaning/dusting every other Thursday. Over the next several weeks I hope to tackle messy closets, a full attic, overflowing book shelves, and my semi-annual charity drop.


Ergo: I read hundreds of reviews before finally deciding on the ERGOBaby Original carrier {over the Sport or Performance models}. The material is definitely warm on a hot day ~ as I discovered at the zoo ~ but it's soooo comfy otherwise and supposedly more fade and wash resistant than the Organic version. I've worn Ollie {21 lbs} in front and Bleu {31 lbs} in back every day this week.







Freeze!: Inspired by busta-a-move Buby, "freeze dancing" is easily our favorite new past time. I dj a dance mix, kids go nuts, I pause, they freeze, we all laugh. Over and over.


Guests: Grandma DJ and Tom G. were in town for four days, which included her birthday. My Sweets made reservations at Rosy O'Grady's on 52nd St. + 7th Ave., and we didn't leave until we had tasted the key lime pie, chocolate almond cake and NY style cheesecake.







Hurricane: We are scheduled to be hit overnight and into early tomorrow. Flash flooding isn't as much a concern for us, but power loss is likely. We always lose power during storms. My prayers go out to everyone affected by Irene.


Laundry: Laundry, laundry, laundry. It's always in progress. I can't keep up.


Manhattan: I jumped on a commuter train Tuesday morn with my three littles, my mother-in-law and her boyfriend Tom G. Takeaway #1: I need to do this much more often. I really miss the city, and the kids are so well behaved. Takeaway #2: I need to drive next time.







Make Believe: Lots of imaginative role playing, puppet shows, inventive names and silly accents in our house right now. Buby and Bleu energize me with their creativity. I love this part of childhood.







MNO: Six mom friends left our husbands to babysit our 11 children so that we could enjoy a much-needed evening out. It was amazing! {Thank you, Tom!} I walked home from dinner and dessert at one of my fave restaurants to find My Sweets snuggled up in our bed with the babes. His only comment was, "Man, we have such good kids."


Penguins: The coolest part of Central Park Zoo, in my opinion, is the penguins at feeding time. A must see for both bigs and littles.







Quake: It struck D.C. on Tuesday while we were walking the streets of New York. I didn't feel a thing, and neither did the wee ones, but buildings around us were under evacuation. Strange.


Red Balloon: Buby chose a theme for his 6th birthday based on his favorite French short film. We've already cleared a "party in the park" date with his few bffs, and I'm working on invites now. It'll be small, simple, fun.


School: We made excellent progress on back-to-school gear. I'll detail our purchases in a separate post. This morning I spent 2 1/2 hours at Parent Orientations for both Buby and Bleu. So many exciting adventures in store for them this year. {I'm sort of jealous!}


Sleep: One six-hour stretch of sleep for Ollie. I'll take it. Sleeping for any stretch is not his forte.


West Africa: My Sweets spent yesterday morning prepping for his work trip to Ghana. He received 1 infectious-disease consultation, 4 vaccines {yellow fever, polio, hep A, hep B}, 3 prescriptions {malaria, typhoid, antibiotic}, 1 anti-diarrhea, and 1 bottle of potent repellent. Scary.